Mercosur

• Saturday, June 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Garcia/Chavez rift widens and ties could be severed

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called Peruvian elected president Alan Garcia a United States “lap puppy” and put in doubt the outcome of the recent elections in Peru.

• Saturday, June 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Morales accepts defeat and declares he's Catholic

  Bolivian president Evo Morales said Friday he was Catholic and admitted praying regularly to ask favours from God and therefore will not eliminate religion classes in Bolivian government schools.

• Saturday, June 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Lula confirms re-election bid and leads 3 to 1 in polls

  Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced Saturday in Brasilia his re-election bid for the coming general election next October 1.

• Friday, June 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  End of XXth century hottest in 400 years

  There is sufficient evidence from tree rings, boreholes, retreating glaciers, and other “proxies” of past surface temperatures to say with a high level of confidence that the last few decades of the 20th century were warmer than any comparable period in the last 400 years, according to a new report from the US National Research Council.

• Friday, June 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  South Korea eyeing UN Secretary General post

  The South Korean government formally requested Chile's support for the candidacy of Foreign Affairs minister Ban Ki-Moon to the post of Secretary General of United Nations, reported diplomatic sources in Santiago.

• Friday, June 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Bolivia begins taking over oil companies' assets

  Petrobras Bolivian affiliate will cease to distribute fuel and refined products in Bolivia as of next July 1 in accordance with the May nationalisation decree from President Evo Morales government.

• Friday, June 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Cuba joins world rush for alternative fuels

  Cuba plans to triple sugar production to 3 million tons and join the world rush for alternative fuels, the official AIN news agency reported this week in Havana.
  “The Sugar Ministry is working to expand production by planting an additional 30% area thus increasing the annual harvest to three million tons”, added AIN.

• Friday, June 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile, Brazil and Peru, the alternative to Venezuela's populism

  Chile together with Brazil and Peru are the alternative to the state-managed economic model and limited democratic values that Venezuela is trying to impose in the region, said Peruvian elected president Alan Garcia following his meeting with Chilean president Michelle Bachelet.

• Friday, June 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Mexico: neck to neck race with electorate split in three

  With just over a week to Mexico's presidential election on July 2, populist candidate Andres Lopez Obrador is emerging with an edge over Felipe Calderon from the ruling National Action Party, PAN, according to the latest public opinion surveys.

• Friday, June 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil: “new deal” for Mercosur junior members

  Brazil proposed in Montevideo a “new deal” for Mercosur and requested a “credit of confidence” from Uruguay, which has bitterly complained about the group's functioning and is moving closer to United States.